Carmelite Sisters of the Most Sacred Heart of Los Angeles

In a book I was reading recently the author made a beautiful point about our Blessed Mother. He said that all through the Old Testament, God was preparing to send His Son. He began by setting aside a people as His own, then a tribe, then a family, until finally He set aside one individual person to be completely His own: Mary.

As we celebrate the great solemnity of the Immaculate Conception I am drawn to think of Advent from a different perspective. A time of awaiting, but who is doing the waiting? How great must have been the longing of Our Heavenly Father to send His Son into the world! “When the fullness of time had come, He sent forth His Son, born of a woman.” How great must have been the rejoicing in the Heart of the Trinity the day that Mary was conceived. At last, the redemption of mankind was at hand. The long wait that stretched from the desecrated garden, all through the years of exile, captivity, and oppression would soon be ended. As a tiny baby girl stirred in her mother’s womb, unseen by any human eye, with what great passion did the heart of God move with love for His people!

And He waits for me today. He has graces He wishes to impart to my soul. When I open my heart to Him, the torrent of His love is released and His longing Heart delights in possessing what He has so ardently desired. May Mary Immaculate obtain for us the grace to recognize the God Whose longing for union far surpasses ours own.

J.M. + J.T.I also remember someone once telling me about how Mary in her own way had an “advent” before the birth of Our Lord, and how each and ever moment of her everyday prepared Christ for his great works of redemption. Her washing and drying prepared Christ’s hands for the nails, her walking His feet, her bathing His scourging…in this way also we must live advent–as it were, the first time Christ would come into the world–but also the way in which you described it. Our Lady is the window, the glass through which Our Lord is magnified, and we must live out our advent in this way.Thank you so very much, Sister!In Christ,Teresa